P.F. Chang's China Bistro, Inc.'s 40-plus restaurant chain, operating in 19 states, owes much of its success to founder Paul Fleming's unique idea of pairing oriental cuisine with American-style service. At the outset, when he opened the first of the restaurants in Scottsdale, Arizona, Fleming broke with the traditional Chinese restaurant format. With his collaborator, chef Philip Chiang, he devised a comparatively limited menu that featured far fewer dishes than the menus of typical, full-service, Chinese restaurants. Incorporating an American steak house dining style and a formidable selection of wines and cheeses, P.F. Chang's offers such additional oriental restaurant anomalies as espresso and cappuccino. Although P.F. Chang's China Bistros are stylish in decor, displaying motifs from the Ming and T'ang Dynasties and hand-painted murals, the dishes are moderately priced, partly because one of Fleming's aims was to provide high quality but affordable Chinese food for "the masses."

Heat the cream, ginger and sugar in a saucepan over a medium-low heat until the sugar is dissolved. (Ginger has an enzyme that interferes with the gelatin. Heating the ginger destroys the enzyme.)

Remove and set the cream mixture aside. In a separate, medium-sized bowl add the water then sprinkle over the gelatin. Stir well and then leave it to set a little for no more than a couple of minutes. Now pour the cream mixture over the gelatin and stir until everything is well incorporated and there are no lumps.

Quickly dab a paper towel with some neutral tasting oil, like vegetable oil and lightly oil the ramekins or glasses. Now, fill the glasses with the mixture, leaving about 2 inches for the topping. Transfer the filled glasses to the fridge and leave them to set for about 4 hours or overnight. When the panna cotta has set and is firm, you can decide to either garnish the glasses or you could also invert them onto a serving plate by running a knife around each panna cotta and then flipping it upside down onto the serving plate. This latter option would work nicely if you’ve used a ramekin.